North Second Street in St. Charles goes through an interesting neighborhood named Frenchtown, not to be confused with the area of the same name in St. Louis just south of downtown.
This area was developed after the original French settlement, and there is some really great architecture. St. Charles wants the area to attract young people nowadays.
It was also known as the Antique district although that has faded somewhat.
I’m surprised St Charles has not made more efforts to revive it like what they have done with Main Street, it still has potential.
Oh yeah, I remember that! The business of antiques has changed a lot over the last twenty years, I have been told. It seemed like most of the antique stores were gone when I visited last week.
Kind of hard to compete with the antique stores on the other side of the river–most of which are huuuge.
It might be worth taking another swing through Frenchtown sometime. They’ve continued to do a lot of work on rejuvenating it, including adding many murals on the sides of buildings, and even some street murals at the intersections (though I assumed those will get worn away over time). There’s also some interesting new businesses, like a boxing therapy gym.
I am due for another visit! Thanks for letting me know.